The disclosures herein relate generally to computer systems and more particularly to a retention apparatus for a peripheral device such as a hard disk drive.
During the installation and removal of a hard disk drive, the drive is susceptible to falling from its mounting bracket if not manually or otherwise supported between the various installation or removal steps. The drive can fall during installation between the time it is placed on the mounting bracket and when the fasteners are installed, or during removal between the time that the fasteners are removed and the drive is removed from the mounting bracket.
Upon falling, the impact of landing can cause serious damage to the drive or other system components. If the impact is great enough, one or more of the heads in the disk drive may experience an impact-induced head crash. An impact-induced head crash occurs when one or more of the heads collide against the surface of an adjacent disk as a result of the disk drive unit being subjected to an excessive impact. A head crash may damage the head or the disk, resulting in reduced performance and reliability. The damage may result in immediate failure or undetected damage leading to a shortened operating life.
Various mounting methods have been devised for hard disk drives. U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,079 is directed to a multi-purpose frame for a computer which comprises floppy disk seats and hard disk seats. The front end of the frame is provided with side hooks, front hooks and a downward urging retainer. The side portion of the frame is provided with interface card hooks, and the rear lower portion thereof is provided with a pair of L-shaped strips. Each of the hard disk seats is provided with fastening hooks and a resilient retainer, and one of the floppy disk seats is provided with dovetail grooves having a recess located therebetween. The frame facilitates the dismounting and replacing of the disk drives, which may be mounted to or dismounted from the computer base conveniently.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,099 is directed to a computer, or other similar type of electronic device including a chassis, and one or more disk drives mounted in the chassis. A mounting bracket for receiving a disk drive is mounted to the computer chassis and is precisely located relative to a wall of the chassis. A mounting plate for receiving another disk drive is mounted relative to the bracket and to the chassis and is also precisely located relative to a wall of the chassis and to the bracket.
Accordingly, there is a need for a retention device for temporarily retaining and positioning a peripheral device in the chassis of a computer system that overcomes the shortcomings of present installation apparatus and techniques.